My To-Do List

Over 5,600 degrees were conferred on Sunday to students at SUNY ESF and Syracuse University. In spite of having a “local” commencement speaker, Mary Karr’s address to the audience was, in my view, inspiring. And the rain held off until just about the time we were all set to leave the Dome. That was perhaps the only glitch in what was otherwise a fine weekend.

So it’s now time to kick back, take some much needed vacation time and wait for the next group of students to arrive in August, right?

Not so fast.

Here is my partial to-do list for the summer:

– Produce new training videos for all of our equipment that includes cameras, tripods, audio, lighting and editing software
– A complete overhaul of the OTN YouTube channel
– Shoot and edit the OTN video for new students, “Get To Know SU.” A 15-minute exploration of all the things incoming freshmen will need to know
– Coordinate and manage new connectivity from the Schine Student Center to the Dick Clark Studios for future OTN productions
– Make some editorial changes to the OTN website
– Create some new job descriptions and hire a new (and large) staff for the 2015-16 academic year
– Implement a new promotional format for on-air
– Maintain the OTN Facebook and Twitter accounts over the summer
– Bring on-line a brand new automation and playout server for channel 2- This will require extensive new training
– Create some new program elements for our longest running show “The Review Crew”

I think I had better stop here because there’s really a lot more on my to-do list and a lot of it (maybe all of it) will just continue to bore you.

I’m not trying to elicit sympathy, pity, envy or anything really. There are some misconceptions about my position here at OTN and one of them is that I am on a faculty schedule meaning, I have the summers off. I do not. It really takes a lot to maintain the station and the summer is a time to fix what’s broken, implement new ideas and get ready for the fall.

I really like this time of year because it’s quiet and I can get a lot done. But the fondness for the quiet lasts about a week or two and then I’m ready for y’all to come back. But by then it’s only late May so I have a long summer to anticipate your arrival back on campus. So I like to be busy . . . as you can see.